β Scribed by Suresh I. S. Rattan
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
The age distribution of human populations is becoming progressively shifted toward the upper end of the range. Most of the Northern economic-belt countries already have more than 15% of their population over the age of 65 years, and this fraction is bound to increase further. This addition of years to life, however, has not produced a corresponding increase in the number of years of good health for the elderly. Unhealthy old and very old people need even more physical, mental and social care than others. In terms of a fixed health budget, the older section of the population appears to consume funds disproportionately. There is, therefore, a need not only for more money for health care but also to undertake more research on the biology of ageing and age-related diseases, in order to improve the quality of life in old age. The policy-makers in Europe are only just beginning to realize this.
In a recently held international symposium*, attractively named Gerontologie 2000, scientists from the USA, Japan, Canada and most of the EEC countries discussed various aspects of ageing research. Unlike in the USA, research on basic and clinical aspects of ageing in Europe is still on the fringes of mainstream biomedical research. Although a concerted-action group on ageing, EURAGE, was established by an act of the EEC in 1979, no significant finance has been earmarked specifically for gerontological research.
EURAGE, until now, has been primarily a coordinator of research. It is, however, noteworthy that even without any significant finance at its disposal, it has been quite successful in, at least, bringing together a wide spectrum of clinical and biological gerontologists on to one platform. EURAGE has four main groups on research in ageing that deal respectively with ageing in the liver, the immune system, the lens and the brain. Until March 1986 it had 84 member laboratories from 9 EEC countries and Switzerland. EURAGE also col-* International Symposium on Modem Trends in Aging Research; organized collectively by EURAGE, I.N.S.E.R.M., Association Claude-Bernard and Fondation nationale de gerontologie, Pans, 12-14 March 1986.
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